New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio notched a victory on Wednesday in his push to change admissions standards for the city’s elite high schools in order to promote racial integration.
The bill that represents a starting point for de Blasio’s plan barely passed the New York City General Assembly’s 30-member Education Committee with 16 votes. All eight Republicans and four democrats dissented, and two members were absent. Some members who voted in favor of the bill said they only did so to expand the debate on the legislation, according to the New York Post.
The bill moves next to the assembly’s Rules Committee.
In a press conference Sunday, de Blasio announced his proposal for eight of the city’s top high schools to stop using the Specialized High School Admissions Test as the sole basis for admissions offers and instead create a system that accepts the highest-performing students from each middle school. The mayor also wants to expand the city’s Discovery program, which offers admission to low-income students who just miss the cutoff for the entrance exam.
The measure is designed to promote racial integration in the schools. While about two-thirds of the city’s students are black or Hispanic, those students only receive about 10 percent of admissions offers.
“These are the most respected, most prestigious schools in the city. We will not allow them to be agents of unfairness,” de Blasio said.
While the proposal has received some support, it may be tough to get it through the legislature. State law currently requires a test score for three of the schools, and Republicans in the state Senate have previously restrained the mayor’s control of the city’s schools by extending it only one or two years.
Supporters of the proposal include Assembly Member Charles Barron, who promoted legislation to scrap the exam, and state Sen. Roxanne Persaud, who showed her support at the press conference.
The proposal would phase out the entrance exams over the course of three years. Schools would then gradually reserve more spots for high-performing students from every middle school each year, with the eventual goal of awarding 90 to 95 percent of admissions offers to the top 7 percent of students. The rest of the spots would be given to private-school students or students who are new to the city.
De Blasio initially promoted the change during his run for mayor in 2013, but he is just now pursuing the cause as an elected official.
